MisterJB wrote...
Orsino tries to keep order? His very first action in the third act is to incite a rebellion.Meanwhile, Meredith seems to be right on the money when she says there is a plot against her. In fact, I seem to recall every mage Meredith lay charges against ending up doing something that proved her right all along.
Believing a monster sleeps under your bed and doing everything in your power to make that monster does NOT prove you right. It makes you an abhorrent person.
I am not going to say that Meredith also didn't contribute somewhat to the aggravation of the situation or that a search would have gone without some bumps, but there are good reasons to search the Circle because, virtually, every blood mage in Act 3 came from it. If Orsino had nothing to hide, then he should have just let the Templars do their jobs.
*buzzer noise*
Not so. The Bloodragers are a gang of
apostates that have many... well... blood
mages in their group. And they run all throughout Hightown while the Templars, who are stationed there, do
literally nothing about the situation. There are only TWO circle blood
mages in Act 3: Huon and Grace. The others were, IIRC, using regular magic.
He had plenty of opportunities. He yelled at Anders, pleaded with Hawke; he could have, at any point, offered Meredith to search the Circle.
And Meredith could've demonstrated some common sense and told Orsino that she now had full authority to search the Circle.
But he didn't; not until he had been there first. Imagine if a policeman catchs a suspect in the streets and claims to want to search his home for evidence. The suspect staunchly argues he doesn't have the right to do that but, after he had been to his home, he suddenly becomes very cooperative. Sounds suspicious, doesn't it?
Depends on the context of the situation.
And I could just as easily say that when Meredith leaves, she's going to
plant evidence there.
At that point in time, it's feasible. Later on not so much after what the game does, but at the time yes.
Also, if Hawke sides with the Templars, it's Orsino who takes the initiative to start a fight and order his mages to stall the Champion and the Knight Commander. Another opportunity he could have used to offer Meredith the option to search the Circle if that is what he intended all along.
I still don't see why I should condemn Orsino for all of this when the woman who had full authority at that point and didn't need Orsino to say such a thing could've easily gone "Well, ****, now I've got the power to search the Circle."
That's not really how demons work. For instance, in the Warden's Keep, the demons didn't seem to care that he castle was surrounded by fereldan forces, they attacked soldier and Grey Warden alike.
Uldred. He summoned a slew of Demons and the Pride Demon he summoned ended up forcefully possessing him because he couldn't control. He screamed and fought against it, but in the end lost.
It's possible that a demon or two could have come up with that strategy but for an entire army of them to have that very same plan? Very doubtful.
Since Demons operate on a power hierarchy, with the more powerful ones dominating the lesser ones, the more powerful demons could've told the lesser ones that this would be the plan.
And that wouldn't change the fact the mages knew how to summon demons in the first place which is still not something you learn in a couple of hours.
Arguable. We don't know the specifics of Demon deal making in regards to blood magic, so we can't say for certain one way or the other. I believe the situation forced them into it, you believe they were long time blood
mages now exposed by the circumstances.
True.
As well as two other Pride Demons in the Gallows that summon a host of Shades, some Rage Demons outside the chamber where Orsino is fought that summon Shades and bring forth Abominations (as nonsensical as that was though), and the Desire Demon that enthralled
Mages and Templars alike.
Plus throughout Lowtown, there was a Desire Demon commanding Abominations.
Very few
Mages actually summoned Demons in the pro-Templar side of things.
A quick google search tells me eidetic memory is entirely fictional.
And even if it wasn't, eidetic memory; despite him showing no other evidence of it; is somehow more likely than "studying"?
I've always believed he's read up on certain things regarding blood magic, but has never once practiced it. And I don't see how a person could even safely practice making a Harvester, so remembering the ritual in total form is what I believe.
Why would a man who's about to off himself and is fessing up to a whole bunch of **** lie about having never practiced blood magic up until that point? He has nothing left to lose and nothing to gain.